Camera arrangement with wide field of view

Abstract

A camera arrangement (100) comprises first and second sets of one or more cameras (102, 104, 202, 204, 204') and a half-silvered mirror (130). The one or more cameras of the first set look through the half-silvered mirror--i.e., receive light that passes through the half-silvered mirror. The one or more cameras of the second set look off the half-silvered mirror (130)--i.e., receive light reflected off the half-silvered mirror. The cameras of the first and second sets are positioned so that individual fields of view (103, 105, 203, 205, 205') of the cameras of the first and second sets alternate to form a wide angle aggregate field of view (110, 210). The field of view of each individual camera merges contiguously along a boundary with the field of view of a camera from the other set. This permits cameras which form adjacent sections of the wide angle field of view to be located at physically separate locations in space yet have individual fields of view which appear to originate at the same physical location in space. An additional mirror (160, 160') may be associated with each camera of the second set to provide a second reflection of the light received by the cameras of the second set to avoid image reversal. There are no mirror edges within the aggregate wide angle field of view. Thus, there are no artifacts in the high resolution image produced by the camera arrangement at the boundaries of the sub-images produced by the individual cameras.

I claim: 
     
       1. A video camera arrangement comprising a plurality of individual video cameras having individual fields of view which merge contiguously to form a single aggregate field of view, said arrangement comprising, a mirror for receiving incident light, for allowing a portion of said incident light to pass through without reflection, and for reflecting a portion of said incident light,   a first set of one or more video cameras having individual fields of view for receiving at least some of the light passed through said mirror,   a second set of one or more video cameras having individual fields of view for receiving at last some of the light reflected by said mirror,   the cameras in said first and second sets being positioned so that the aggregate field of view is formed by alternating the individual fields of view of the individual cameras of the first and second sets, the field of view of each camera of each set merging continuously along a boundary with a field of view of a camera of the other set.   
     
     
       2. The video camera arrangement of claim 1 wherein said mirror is a half-silvered mirror. 
     
     
       3. The video camera arrangement of claim 1 wherein said mirror is a beam splitter. 
     
     
       4. The arrangement of claim 1 further including means for providing a second reflection for said portion of said light reflected by said mirror to avoid image reversal in said camera of said second part. 
     
     
       5. The arrangement of claim 4 wherein said means comprises a mirror associated with each camera of said second set. 
     
     
       6. The arrangement of claim 1 wherein said mirror is a half-silvered mirror whose edges are located outside the aggregate fields of view of all the cameras. 
     
     
       7. The arrangement of claim 2 wherein said one or more cameras of said first set are located in a first plane, said one or more cameras of said second set are located in a second plane, and wherein said arrangement comprises additional mirror means associated with the cameras of the second set for providing a second reflection for light reflected by said half-silvered mirror to avoid image reversal in each camera of said second set. 
     
     
       8. The arrangement of claim 1 wherein said first set comprises one camera and said second set comprises one camera, wherein said aggregate field of view comprises said field of view of said one camera of said first set merged continuously with said field of view of said one camera of said second set, and wherein said mirror is a half-silvered mirror oriented by 45° to a line which bisects the aggregate field of view. 
     
     
       9. The arrangement of claim 8 further comprising a second mirror to provide an additional reflection for the light reflected by said half-silvered mirror. 
     
     
       10. A video camera arrangement comprising a first set of one or more video cameras and a second set of one or more video cameras,   a mirror for separating light from an object to be imaged into first and second portions, wherein said mirror allows passage therethrough of a first portion of the light and reflects a second portion of the light,   said first set of one or more cameras receiving the first light portion and said second set of one or more cameras receiving the second light portion and the fields of view of individual cameras of said first and second sets being combined alternately to form a single aggregate field of view including said object, the field of view of each camera of each set merging contiguously at a boundary with the field of view of a camera of the other set.   
     
     
       11. The arrangement of claim 10 wherein said mirror is a half-silvered mirror which allows passage therethrough of said first portion of said light to said one or more cameras of said first set and which reflects said second portion of said light to said one or more cameras of said second set, said half-silvered mirror having edges located outside said aggregate field of view. 
     
     
       12. The arrangement of claim 11 wherein said first set comprises one camera, said second set comprises one camera, and wherein said half-silvered mirror is oriented at 45° to a line which bisects said aggregate field of view. 
     
     
       13. The arrangement of claim 11 wherein said one or more cameras of said first set are located in a first plane, said one or more cameras of said second set are located in a second plane, and said arrangement includes a mirror associated with each camera of the second set for providing a second reflection for light reflected by said half-silvered mirror to avoid image reversal in the one or more cameras of the second set. 
     
     
       14. A video camera arrangement comprising a plurality of individual video cameras having individual fields of view which merge continuously to form a single aggregate field of view, said arrangement comprising a mirror for receiving incident light, for allowing passage therethrough of a first portion of said light incident thereon and for reflecting a second portion of said light incident thereon,   a first set of one or more video cameras having individual fields of view for receiving at least some of the light passing through said mirror, and   a second set of one or more video cameras having individual fields of view for receiving at least some of the light reflected by said mirror,   the cameras in said first and second sets being positioned so that the aggregate field of view is formed by alternating the individual fields of view of the individual cameras of the first and second sets, the field of view of each camera of each set merging continuously along a boundary with a field of view of a camera of the other set.   
     
     
       15. A video camera arrangement comprising a first set of one or more video cameras and a second set of one or more video cameras, and   a mirror for separating light incident thereon from an object to be imaged into first and second portions, said mirror allowing passage therethrough of said first portion of said light incident thereon and said mirror reflecting said second portion of said light incident thereon,   said first set of one or more cameras receiving the first light portion and said second set of one or more cameras receiving the second light portion and the fields of view of individual cameras of said first and second sets being combined alternately to form a single aggregate field of view including said object, the field of view of each camera of each set merging contiguously at a boundary with the field of view of a camera of the other set.